Judge Rejects Move to Invalidate Leases for Proposed Twin Metals Mine

A federal judge has rejected a second attempt by opponents of the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota to invalidate the mineral rights leases needed for the project.

They were challenging the Interior Department’s 2019 decision to renew the leases for the site near Ely. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden said Thursday that new arguments and evidence raised by the opponents in the 2020 lawsuit would not have changed the outcome of the case.

The Obama Administration refused to renew the leases, citing the threat to the nearby Boundary Waters Canoe Area, but the Trump Administration reversed that decision.